{
 "id": "henry-van-dyke-jr/a-mothers-birthday",
 "title": "A Mother’s Birthday",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "Henry van Dyke Jr.",
 "poet_slug": "henry-van-dyke-jr",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "The Poems of Henry Van Dyke",
 "book_slug": "poems",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 55,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1920,
  "venue": "The Poems of Henry Van Dyke (1920)",
  "note": "Taken from the 1920 collected edition. That is the printing this text comes from, not the poem's first appearance: the volume gathers work published from 1897 onward, and which earlier book or magazine printed this poem first has not been established here.",
  "uncertain": true,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/poemsofhenryvand00vandrich"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/henry-van-dyke-jr_poetry",
  "file": "poetry.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16229",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16134",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10679",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3525",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/9372",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/29314",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/43094",
   "https://archive.org/details/poemsofhenryvand00vandrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/buildersotherpoe00vandrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/toilingoffelixan00vandiala",
   "https://archive.org/details/musicotherpoems0000henr_c7v6",
   "https://archive.org/details/poemsnowfirstcol00vanduoft",
   "https://archive.org/details/songsoutofdoors0000vand",
   "https://archive.org/details/thyseaisgreatour00vandiala",
   "https://archive.org/details/chosenpoems0000vand"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-20"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 30,
  "n_stanzas": 5,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 36,
  "max_indent": 4
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "Lord Jesus, Thou hast known",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A mother’s love and tender care:",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And Thou wilt hear,",
    "indent": 3
   },
   {
    "text": "While for my own",
    "indent": 4
   },
   {
    "text": "Mother most dear",
    "indent": 3
   },
   {
    "text": "I make this birthday prayer.",
    "indent": 4
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Protect her life, I pray,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Who gave the gift of life to me;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And may she know,",
    "indent": 3
   },
   {
    "text": "From day to day,",
    "indent": 4
   },
   {
    "text": "The deepening glow",
    "indent": 3
   },
   {
    "text": "Of joy that comes from Thee.",
    "indent": 4
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "As once upon her breast",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Fearless and well content I lay,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "So let her heart,",
    "indent": 3
   },
   {
    "text": "On Thee at rest,",
    "indent": 4
   },
   {
    "text": "Feel fear depart",
    "indent": 3
   },
   {
    "text": "And trouble fade away.",
    "indent": 4
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Ah, hold her by the hand,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As once her hand held mine;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And though she may",
    "indent": 3
   },
   {
    "text": "Not understand",
    "indent": 4
   },
   {
    "text": "Life’s winding way,",
    "indent": 3
   },
   {
    "text": "Lead her in peace divine.",
    "indent": 4
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "I cannot pay my debt",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For all the love that she has given;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "But Thou, love’s Lord,",
    "indent": 3
   },
   {
    "text": "Wilt not forget",
    "indent": 4
   },
   {
    "text": "Her due reward⁠—",
    "indent": 3
   },
   {
    "text": "Bless her in earth and heaven.",
    "indent": 4
   }
  ]
 ]
}